ya, im startin to feel like he could end up as trade bait. I havent heard his name at all since camp opened. I figured hed be starting on the inside along with Vilma, but ive heard everybody elses name and not his.
I've been to 3 practices and I saw him out there, mainly because my son has a Barton 50 jersey, nothing distinguishable, though...
It appears that Barton has been running interference for Vilma.... taking up blockers, to keep Vilma free. That sort of selfless role isn't going to get much coverage. But, in terms of value to the team, he could be a very important cog in the wheel. He also has enough ability to switch roles with Vilma, although I don't see that happening often, itis the sort of "unpredictabilty" that Mangini likes to talk about. I think Barton will be a very valuable player in this scheme, but his efforts will go widely unnoticed.
Even if he gets few tackles because he's giving himself up for Vilma? Yeah, in some cicrles that would be noticed, but the main, it won't be at all. Who played next to Donnie Edwards for SD last year in the 3-4? Edwards is widely known, but his other OLB partner isn't.
I agree with TBird. It can be a relatively thankless job as far as the fans are concerned. For too many fans if they dont see a player making big tackles or see big numbers on the stats page they assume he's having a bad year or isnt very good. I am unsure of Barton's exact contract status, but this has to be at least the third year of his deal and I've wondered if the Jets might not want to take advantage of his proven status and a productive linebacker and try to trade a team in need of adding depth at the LB position. My thinking is that since he is an 8 year veteran and, despite what the team says, the Jets do seem to be in somewhat of a rebuilding year that he might be more valuable to the team as trade material than as a good productive linebacker on a team that most dont project to be a .500 team. Just speculation on my part but I'd like to know what you think.
has your mom been practicinn cuz she sucked last night. oooooooo jp i mean barton is a huge part of our run defense without him vilma will have to do al the work
The guy next to Donnie Edwards is Randall Godfrey and has been for the past couple years. I agree though, he is goes widely unnoticed but has allowed Edwards to be in the top 5 in the tackles like the past 5 years. I personally believe Barton is a playmaker who has the power to force fumbles and get to the QB (widely at times, we all remember the Chargers game) and I think he would be better used on the outside. I would rather see Brad Kassell taking up blockers for Vilma with Barton on one side and a rotation between Hobson and Thomas on the other side. Whatever happens, I think Vilma, Barton, Kassell, and Hobson are our best LBs and should be on the field most of the time.
I think he meant on the outside which is where Barton may end up. Foley is on the outside and didn't go unnoticed. He's nothing more than a decent passrusher though.
Barton has got that fire...in game situations we will see that. Hopefully he is 100% from his injury. We have a pretty damn good LB cor, much more than what we get credit for. We also should have kept Mark Brown IMO.
I think ColezDeep! said it correct. Regardless of the system, players around him. The guy is tough and he's a football player straight up. Game skills like no other, so I could careless how he practices.
Yep, Godfrey. I was and remain surprised Barton is at ILB. I thought Hobson would be inside. Remember the 4th quarter of the Steeler playoff game in 2004? The defense got worn down, and they couldn't stop Bettis. I think Mangini will stick with a lot of rotation to avoid that problem, amking sure players still have fresh legs late in the game when they need a stop... just my guess.
Before last season I contacted the official New York Jets shop and had an authentic Eric Bartgon road/white jersey made up for me. With shipping came out to like $240. The best part is that I went to the season opener at K.C. and found the hotel the jets players were staying in. And sure enough who was the first Jet I bumped into? Eric Barton. Got him to sign my jersey and told him the story how I just got the jersey made up like a week ago. After his performance in 2004-2005 season (leading the team in tackles) he really impresed me and is currently my favorite Jet.
The thing you like about him is that when he is on an island (alone on the edge) he never , never misses the tackle. Hopefully he still displays this after getting injured.
